17 April 2007

My parents are going to China for their 30th wedding anniversary. Whenever they travel together, they get nervous. "What if we both die and then you have no idea where anything is?" is a question my mother always asks. "Anything," in this case, always refers to "important documents."

Said "important documents" were therefore overnighted to me via UPS, so that I could have them before my parents hopped on a plain to Shanghai.

Did my UPS delivery ever get to me yesterday? No. This is the same experience I had with UPS a couple of weeks ago regarding my tax forms. Surprise. But unlike last time, it wasn't just a day late: it didn't come at all.

I called UPS, concerned. "It was received and signed for, miss," was the answer I got. So after asking everyone at Naked (which isn't hard, there are only fifteen of us) if they had signed for my package and getting unanimous no's, I got more worried. I called back. "It was signed for by Anthony Gallo."

We have no Anthony Gallo at Naked.

I asked the boutique under us if they had an Anthony Gallo who signed for a package. I did the same at the gadget store next door, and our upstairs neighbors. No luck.

Ah yes. The construction that has made me "use the other sidewalk" for over six months.

I walk into the "building" and frantically began explaining my complicated situation to the security guard. Before I could get into any sort of detail, he interrupts me with "Um, okay let me call Anthony, hang on."

ANTHONY?!

Yes. It turns out that my charming UPS delivery guy either didn't feel like climbing the stairs to our third floor (they always give us attitude about that) or was too blind to count the numbers on the buildings until he got to the one that matched my address at work. So he went next door, to a developing apartment building, letting Anthony Galu (which I totally can understand being confused for the name Johanna Beyenbach) sign for a UPS package addressed to not only MY NAME, but Naked Communications.

I got the package, but it was opened. All thanks, once again, to What Brown Did For Me.

But at least I got my package. And all of the pieces were still in the envelope.

So this, my friends, is how Google saved me. Helping people be sleuthy since 1998.

15 April 2007

Blonde Benoit Mew is the name of the playlist with the heaviest rotation on my iTunes. It has been this way for at least two months. It consists of three albums. Guess the artists.

Since I haven't updated in a while and I can't seem to come up with anything that seems even remotely smart, I'm going to use this entry to recommend the following three albums:

1 Blonde Redhead | 23. I have been in love with it since Valentine's Day. It was just released last week, so now is the time. The design and construction of the album is beautiful too, so I am going to recommend a CD (or vinyl, my God) over digital here. Really, the design is genius. This is music to drown to.

2 Benoît Pioulard | Précis. I experienced a state schema to the opening track of this album. This guy has a magical voice, he layers beautiful sounds on top of each other, and well, it's transcendent. Shoegaze at its best (mixed with some other things too). The album art looks exactly how the record sounds (the image in this entry). So it sounds like raindrops on a window (or twinkly lights in a forest), basically. Or the feeling that such a scene evokes.

3 Mew | And the Glass Handed Kites. Every single time I have heard an album or a set of songs, I prefer it to anything else by that band that I hear afterwards. Such was not the case for this Mew album. I first heard Frengers, and thought it was the best thing to ever be put together. Nope. This is it. The harmonies, voices and drum beats are impeccable. I also experienced a state schema while listening to this album and riding my new bike.

If you buy one three albums in the next three months, buy these. You won't be disappointed. promise.

10 April 2007

My favorite band in the entire universe - Blonde Redhead - released a very very long-awaited album today, called 23. Here is the video for the title track, which is one of the best tracks on the record. The visuals are exactly as the song sounds. Ah, synaesthesia. I've been in love with this song for two months.

Thanit, how is the Thai government doing with the YouTube ban? I'd love for you to see this too.

05 April 2007

You know that huge light bulb that went off in someone's head one day - the one that led them to search for expensive things on eBay, misspelled? They got Compaq computers for next to nothing by simply typing "Compack" into the search field, for example. One person's mistake is another person's steal (almost literally). So, remember this.

Guess why I think the person behind Abundant Bible "By God's mercy, one of the largest Bible-centered sites on the web" is a genius.

Did you see anything out of the ordinary (besides terrible web design, which actually isn't that out of the ordinary)? Click on it and look again. Closer. The URL reads tokyohanna.blogpsot.com. My best friend Nicole was typing too fast while trying to go to my blog, and her mistake led to this web site. Noah told me that apparently they bought the redirect. Every time someone mis-types while going to someone's Blogger-hosted blog, they get redirected to Abundant Bible. I don't think they're one of the largest "by God's mercy." Think of how many eyes they get. I don't know how successful the conversion to sales is, but think of the exposure.

It sounded awesome, so I tried it. They were already over capacity (sometimes I think I get my issues two weeks late because I don't pay for my subscription), which didn't surprise me. But there was still the option to try it anyway for your own "virtual" cover. You get to choose a color scheme, upload a photo (or choose from photos they have), and choose headlines and colors. This was my end result:

It's a cool idea, and would have been REALLY cool if I had been one of the lucky firsts. I wonder if the theme (of the July issue) has something to do with consumer generated content.

There are a few things, though. When you create your cover, you can either email your friends the link or print out your personalized cover. I understand the print-out /Xerox reference, but it would have been great if there was an option to save the file. I had to print mine out and then scan it in order to have it online for others to see. It would have also been cool to generate code for posting to blog /MySpace /yougettheidea, OR a button to upload directly to Flickr. Also, the art direction ended up kind of crap, but I am assuming that's because most headlines on magazine covers are usually designed around the cover image. yes? This is a cool idea, but could have taken so much further. I look forward to seeing more stuff Xerox does.

A strange package arrived for me at Naked today. I wasn't expecting anything.

I inspected the label, and it seemed to be from Thailand. This was inside:

Beautiful, a hand-made candle! I opened the enclosed note:

Dear : JohannaI hope you will like it, a hand-made candle. On 13 Apr, It's Thai New Year. Take it as a New Year gift from me.Best wishes,Oakie :)

GAH! I am floored and truly touched. I have been blogfriends with Oakie for quite a while now. He is applying to the Adcenter, and frankly I think they would be nuts if they didn't take him. I don't think I've ever met such an enthusiastic and friendly guy. He's like a sponge too - eager to learn about everything. A very thoughtful friend, as well. Thank you, Thanit :)